"Do You Ever Work?"

One of the most questions I always get asked from friends and family back home is, “Do you ever work?” The answer to that question is... depends what month it is. Coming to Korea, I have had the most random and unexpected schedule I have ever worked at. Each day is a surprise, I ask myself everyday, am I going to teach today or desk warm?

If you have been keeping up with my Instagram photos on Facebook you have probably seen that I do in fact, have a lot of free time and may seem like I never teach. Well, truthfully I have more free time than teaching hours, so that leaves a lot of time for me to relax, craft, travel and take lots of photos. ^^

These past few months (January and February) have been my vacation months. This post will be about what I have been doing during my free time.

In the beginning of January I had my first set of vacation. My last blog post was dedicated to my Ice Fishing fun during this time so I will skip to my next part of my vacation.

During the next few weeks I had to teach winter camp. This is a time where students come to school (during their break) to take classes, either English (with me) or a Korean class. Because this is just an extracurricular class for the students, I wanted to make it fun for the students and me, so I chose to do a Kung Fu Panda theme for the camp. The students enjoyed it for the most part but towards the last week of camp it was hard to keep them focused on anything... >.<

We were working on being a team.

The next few weeks, I had my second part of my vacation!

The first part of my vacation was spent on what I do best at.... 

of course, crafting! 

During the weekend, I went to Cheonan (South of Seoul) to visit my friend Laura. How do you know Laura, you may ask... Well it is a funny coincidence actually. I went to church with Laura in Eugene, Oregon when I was in middle school. Once I moved away (in high school) we did not really keep in contact, except being friends on Facebook. In November, I got a message from her telling me she was moving to Korea and that she was going to be living in Cheonan. Now we have become good friends once again and it has been fun getting to spend time and travel with her. I love how Korea can connect me with so many different people from the past and in the present. 

Cheonan is a city maybe the size of Portland or a bit smaller? I am not really good at comparing. haha Anyways, I really enjoyed my time there, because anytime I can be in the city I am happy. We just explored Cheonan, drank coffee, got our nails done, and went to a surprise party for a friend. It was a pretty fun weekend! 

The next week I went to Jangheung with my friends. This was the same place I went during my field trip of orientation. 

We went on a little hike through the healing forrest, had lunch and coffee, and sang out hearts out at Noribang. A pretty successful day if I did say so myself. ^^

The next weekend, I went to visit my friend Eun Young in Yeosu. Eun Young and I met at camp in Washington many years ago. While she was there we took her to Oregon and showed her around our home town and this time the roles were reversed. 

I spent the weekend with Eun Young's wonderful family and went to my first Korean church service at her fathers church. I really enjoy spending time with Eun Young and am so thankful to have been able to build a friendship with her many years ago. God plans are so amazing!

I am now back to school for a few weeks desk warming/ teaching four classes until graduation. This weekend was Chinese Lunar New Year, so I had a three day weekend. Laura and I decided to meet in Jeonju and spend our New Years there. This was my second time going to Jeonju, but I love it so much that I didn't mind. Jeonju has a cute little folky village with lots of artsy shops that I love! On saturday we just walked around downtown Jeonju. 

I was looking online trying to find something to do on Sunday and found this mountain (Mt. Maisan) that was supposed to be very beautiful. So we decided to go check it out. For both of us being foreigners and not knowing how to speak Korean, it turned out to be quite the adventure but it was so fun. Maybe my favorite trip so far!

We ended up in a little town called Jinan. Again, to remind you this was a spontaneous trip and us being foreigners, I had no idea what to expect or what was going on. So on our bus ride from Jeonju to Jinan I fell asleep and woke up to find out that we were in the mountains and there was snow everywhere! Now being me, the loud crazy foreigner, I jumped out of my seat from surprise and loudly said to Laura, 'What?! Where are we? We are in the mountains and it is snowing!!" haha That is to show you how much I knew where we were going. So we made it to the bus terminal in Jinan and had to hop on another bus to the mountain. We got a short bus! ha I have never seen a short bus in Korea before this so that was an interesting experience. We were also the only passengers in this bus ride so we were both a little curious on where we going to end up.

We made it to the mountain! It was so beautiful and snowy! ^^ We climbed and climbed and eventually made it after many breaks because of me... haha. We could not hike up to the top, because it was closed off during the winter because of the snow but we were able to make a snowman! Isn't he a cutie!?

On our way back down from the mountain I spotted this little hidden treasure. A Oregon Ducks Coffee machine! What!? How crazy is that? Laura and I were both pretty excited about this little find. haha

In the end the hike won and I guess my legs were not wanting to work anymore. As Laura and I were getting into the bus to head back to Jeonju my legs decided to give out as I was climbing the stairs and I literally almost fell into the bus drivers lap!! Luckily there was a barrier between me and him so I was able to pull myself back up, but it was pretty hilarious/ embarrassing. I guess it was not funny to him because he did not even crack a smile or laugh. haha

Well that's what I have been up to these past few months... and guess what I am not finished! Next week I have another week and half of vacation! I have no plans for it yet, but I will for sure being doing something exciting! ^^